Sheer Cold
by bobamon
Summary: King Cold's third son spent his entire life training to one day destroy his father. When his oppurtunity for vengeance is taken from him, he travels to Earth to battle the one who defeated his father but instead finds common ground with Gohan. How will the trials ahead shape their minds and their relationships? Branches after Cell saga.
1. Prologue - Part 1

_Quick authors note, the 3 prologue chapters will be shorter and possibly less detailed than later full chapters, I'm just trying my best to get them out of the way so I can start on the main story as soon as possible. I may come back and redo them once I'm partway into the main story if I feel the urge. Thanks, hope you enjoy._

**Prologue**_** 1**_

_Age 642_

King Cold stood tall at the back of the Arcosian Royal palace library, his eyes scanning the crystal pillar in front of him. Much like the rest of the palace, the walls and ceiling of this room were all made from an ancient material with the appearance of pure white marble, the nature of which had long since been lost to the sands of time. Regal banners of blue, red and yellow were hung from the walls and circular columns which held the roof of the palace in place about one hundred feet or so above the thick shag carpet. In contrast, the many leather bound books contained within were housed in rudimentary wooden shelves and were thick with dust due to many years of non-use. In fact, there was only one thing in the entire room which hadn't suffered from decades of neglect: the Royal family tree.

Having taken to spending most of his time in his 2nd most restricted form, the King towered above almost all of his subjects, yet even he had to take flight to reach the top of the fantastic monument to the Cold family; to _his_ family. For thousands of years they had ruled their home planet of Arcosia, mercilessly destroying all who dared stand against them, and if all were to go as planned his empire would soon stretch to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. A smirk came to King Cold's purple lips as his gaze met the first name on the pillar. His distant ancestor had unified the previously warring tribes of his planet into one kingdom through his cunning, leadership and raw power.

He floated slowly downwards, taking in the names of his many forefathers. When King Cold finally reached his own name in the lower half of the pillar, his smirk faded and a frown formed upon his sharp features as he lost himself in thought.

Of the dozens of generations of Arcosian royalty, every one was exponentially more powerful than the one which preceded it. As soon as he could Cold had destroyed his brothers and father in order to claim the throne for himself, just as his father had done, and just as _his _father had done before that. This had been the way for thousands of years, with his distant ancestor Chilled being the last not killed by his own offspring. Every time the story was the same: the father would pick the finest mate in order to produce the strongest offspring, then foolishly in either trust of their sons' respect towards them or arrogance in their own power they allowed their offspring to overthrow them. As he was determined not to allow this to happen to him, King Cold had originally intended not to sire an heir, however his honour and loyalty to his family had gotten the better of him and thus he decided to assign his top scientific teams the task of allowing him to create a suitable heir.

Thankfully for them, this team had finally made a breakthrough.

His feet again touching solid ground, the King left the library and began making his way through the grand, clinically white halls of his palace. Along the way, several of his underlings saluted and gave a customary "Long live the King" gesture. The stench of fear and respect never failed to bring a smile to his face.

At his leisurely pace, it was some time before King Cold reached the giant titanium doors that marked the entrance to the research laboratories. As they hissed and slid open, a cold robotic voice chirped a monotonous welcome. These new corridors were built within the last decade under order of the King, and so did not match the architecture of the rest of the palace. Instead of white marble, there was cold, shining steel with various plastics and alloys lining the walls. Where the main palace had thick shag flooring, the labs had only featureless blank tiling. Traversing the winding metal maze, Cold found himself in research room 46A. The room was a large dome with a radius of exactly fifty feet. There were several doors spread around the perimeter of the room, though none were as grand as the entrance Cold had used. Dotted around the room there were also several clear boards with thousands of lines of numbers and symbols. In the centre of the room stood a single diminutive figure.

"I trust you have something that will interest me? I would hate to have to find _another_ scientist as brilliant as you, Mauri" said Cold, his deep and powerful voice bellowing throughout the room.

Swallowing his fear, the small, round and green creature known as Mauri tilted his head up so that his four eyes met his master's own rather than his shin.

"Yes my Lord, we do. Through our extensive research, and using the samples and data which you so graciously provided for us, we believe we have devised a method which will allow you to sire a powerful heir who will surpass your own level of power at least until... long after your natural lifespan, even at our maximum error margins" he managed to croak.

"Excellent, if this method of yours does in fact work as intended." King Cold's eyes narrowed. "Please, do go on."

"Well Sire," Mauri continued, "When we analysed your genetic samples and compared those with the samples of other members of your noble species, we found only a single discrepancy in the genetic code. It is this gene which we believe gives your family its immense power, and this gene which causes your offspring to be greater than the sum of the parts, to coin an old phrase."

"As interesting as that information is, I am extremely busy so please do get to the point before I lose my patience," said Cold, in an eerily polite tone.

"O... of course Lord Cold, please accept my humblest apologies," stuttered Mauri.

King Colds brow narrowed further and the sides of his mouth turned downwards. Mauri gulped before continuing.

"Using the power level information you've provided on your ancestors and their mates, we have devised a formula which will allow you to select a mate who will provide you with an heir to match all of your criteria. In addition to this, we have also created a similar formula which, following annual power measurements for the first few years of their lives, will allow us to predict exactly how their power will grow as they age. Should our initial calculations be off in any way, this will act as a safety net and allow you to see if your son is... to your satisfaction... long before he reaches maturity, and take whatever action you see to be appropriate if he is not."

"Very good, but be warned: if my son does not meet my exact criteria, the first action I will see as appropriate will likely be the removal of most of your organs."

"Of course, sir," Mauri replied, shutting his eyes and lowering his head.

King Cold turned his back to his scientist.

"Create a list of viable mates and have it delivered to my chambers immediately."

With that, the tyrant took his leave.


	2. Prologue - Part 2

**Prologue 2**

_Age 672_

Slowly, the Arcosian 'queen' made her way through the vast white hall of the royal throne room and took her seat on the smaller of the two marble chairs at the far end. Of course, she knew as well as everyone else in the empire that she was queen in name only, and that out with her official handmaiden team she had no real power. Her hands crept from the blue velvet armrests and began to gently massage her swollen stomach. For the third time, she was with child.

She sighed as she remember how foolish she had been when King Cold had chosen her as a mate; she couldn't wait to arrive in the palace and live like royalty, and to meet the King himself was a great honour reserved for only the most respected of officials and warriors. To think that she was not only going to meet him, but marry him and bear his children. From what she had seen on broadcasts he was the perfect gentleman, as well as a fierce and loyal Lord, how could she not swoon over him?

The official ceremony didn't give her much of a chance to talk to him, and he spent less time in the honeymoon suite with her than anywhere. He certainly did live up to his name, though the newly crowned Queen assumed that this was perhaps due to his mind still being on official matters and that he would warm up once they had spent some more time together away from business. This never came to pass, as Cold returned to space the following morning. Regardless of how little time he had spent with her, it was enough to see that she was pregnant. Had she known then of his true nature, she may have took her unborn son and ran to the furthest reaches of the universe, but unfortunately by the time he did reveal this it was too late for her.

The next time she saw him was at the birth of their first son, Cooler. He had returned as soon as he had heard she was in labour, and walked into the delivery room about an hour before his son's birth. His facial expression never changed from his typical scowl the whole time. When the child was finally born, the Medical Robot immediately handed him to his father, who began to smirk with what the Queen had then naively believed was pride and directed his gaze toward the Cold family scribe and announcing loudly "His name shall be Cooler," and taking the infant with him as he left toward the science labs. Too exhausted to protest, the queen lost consciousness.

'If only you had been stronger, you could have recovered more quickly and stole him away when you had the chance,' the Queen thought to herself.

'Still, I wouldn't have Freeza, or you' she thought, continuing to rub her stomach.

As much as she loved Freeza, the memory of how he came to be still haunted her...

* * *

_Several months following Coolers birth_

As soon as she'd recovered just enough strength to walk and fly, the Queen left her hospital bed in search of her King and her baby son. After searching through most of the palace, she finally found him standing at the base of the royal family tree, looking up to where Cooler's name had been engraved. Before she could say a word, he turned around and walked towards her.

"I wish to sire another child," he said bluntly.

"But my King," she mumbled, her nerves taking over as his gargantuan figure drew ever closer, "didn't you mention on the day we wed you only wished for a single heir, to carry on your legacy?"

"Ah yes, my dear Queen, but that was then and this is of course, now." His brow narrowed and a thin smile began to appear on his icy blue lips. The Queen's eyes lit up, but only for a split second as the Kings next few words began to drain their sparkle.

"You see, looking at this magnificent monument to _my _magnificent family, I have been reminded of my own past, as well as a little concept known as 'natural selection'. I trust you're familiar with this?"

The Queen swallowed, her nerves growing by the second.

"Just in case, allow me to explain. In essence, it's a way of saying that those who are strong and deserve to live shall live, and those who are weak shall perish. As you may or may not know, I had several brothers. Why am I still here, ruling the known galaxy, while they are not? Simple: natural selection. I am strong, and they were not," King Cold boomed as he fixed his glare on his Queen.

She was wide eyed and speechless, so he carried on.

"I do, however, owe my late brothers something. According to your data when I chose you to bear my children, your intelligence is second only to my own, so I'm sure you're acquainted with the basics of alien biology. In general, the harsher the environments of a planet, the more powerful the inhabitants are. This is why we Arcosians are so much more powerful than every other species in the galaxy; we have had to overcome incredible obstacles to continue to exist on our planet, and natural selection has allowed those who met and overcame those obstacles to be to flourish, while the weak died like the insects they were. I like to think of my brothers as _my _obstacles to overcome. Without having them to watch out for and eventually destroy, I would not be as powerful as I am, nor would I be so skilful, cunning, or smart. I wouldn't possess the killer instinct, the ruthlessness needed to rule the galaxy."

He finished and continued to smile as he reached her, amused by her fear.

"You want to pit my children – _YOUR _children – against one another, just to see who's strongest!? You monster! How can y-"

She was cut off by a right hook to her cheek. She hadn't even seen his hand move, but she could feel his hard knuckles slam into her unprotected flesh, cracking the bone and opening a deep gash in her face. She flew through and into one of the countless book shelves, becoming slightly embedded in the wall behind it before tumbling out and rolling onto all fours to spit out a large amount of blood. Still on her knees and panting, King Cold was upon her again, though this time he simply grabbed her jaw between his thumb and fingers and lifted her off the ground to his eye level before speaking once more.

"It would serve you well to hold your tongue," he said softly, almost sweetly, "Out of the many thousands of females on my planet, I chose you specifically to bear my offspring. I would very much prefer to keep you alive for that purpose, though sometimes my temper can get the better of me. We wouldn't want that now, would be?"

He didn't allow her to answer before throwing her down onto the glacial marble floor and taking her right there...

* * *

The Queen shuddered at the memory. Despite never seeing King Cold again until she gave birth to Freeza, she lived in constant fear following the encounter. Terrified of what he might do to her, to their son and future children. It was so intense that she had been worried that her unborn child was also sharing in her fear at the time, but as much as she hated subjecting it to that level of emotion she simply couldn't help it.

When she awoke from Freeza's birth, she no longer felt the complete terror she had done beforehand. In the six years between then and the next time she saw the King, her fears had slowly dissipated. Their father may have been a monster, but Cooler was growing into a respectable and intelligent young man and little Freeza was such a sweet and innocent child. She was sure that with her influence there was no way they would ever turn on each other. Once their father was out of the way, they would rule the galaxy together, alongside any other siblings they may end up with. It was a comforting thought.

Interrupting her thoughts, she felt a sudden and sharp pain in her abdomen. This was it. It was time. Calling for medical attention on her communicator, she doubled over in her seat from the pain. Within minutes, medical robots had appeared, scooped her up and carried her off to the birthing rooms. As she lay on the stretcher, she stared up at the passing ceilings and in an effort to blank out the pain began to try and predict when her husband and King would appear. Usually it was after the 25th hour; as King Cold kept his ship close to home when he knew she was due to enter labour.

Twenty five hours of pain and monotonous medical beeps later, the King appeared right on cue. The Queen had decided, perhaps in some part due to the number of pain killers coursing through her system at the time, that while she was still conscious enough to do so she would dare to ask him the question she'd prepared.

"My... king... may I ask... a small favour... of you to your... obedient queen?" she gasped between the painful spasms.

King Cold eyes narrowed and he nodded.

"Before you take... the child, may I hold him? Just for... a minute?" she asked, eyes closed tightly, half expecting a fist to fly toward her nose despite her position.

"I will consider it," The King replied dryly.

It was all she needed to hear, and those four words carried her through the next few hours, the anticipation of being able to hold her newly born baby before she lost consciousness more than outweighing the physical pain. Finally, after 5 more hours of near constant screaming, the newest addition to the Cold family was born.

"IT IS FEMALE, AVERAGE WEIGHT, APPEARS HEALTHY," a medical Robot announced as it placed the child in King Colds grasp. He eyed it suspiciously before moving his gaze to meet his barely conscious Queen's. She gave him a pleading look, still remembering her earlier request.

"What would you like to name her, your highness?" asked the Scribe

Cold looked at the child once more before throwing it toward its mother, in an attempt to catch her newborn, she weakly raised her arms and braced herself for the impact so as to minimise damage to the baby. But the impact never came. A flash of light filled the room as the Queen looked on, arms still raised. When her eyes had recovered from the flash she saw a puff of smoke where her daughter had previously been, and through this cloud of smoke she saw her King with his left palm outstretched.

"I have no need for a daughter. Erase all records of this," King Cold said to the scribe. He lowered his palm and stormed out of the room.

Completely overcome by grief, horror, pain and a strange feeling of euphoria from the medication, the Queens eyes rolled back in her head as she gladly left the conscious world behind.


	3. Prologue - Part 3

**Prologue 3**

_Age 680_

This wasn't how things were supposed to turn out. Nothing had gone according to plan. She was supposed to have it easy; becoming royalty, her wildest desires becoming reality with a flick of her wrist. All she had to do was be a good wife to the gallant and noble ruler of her home world. Even after the true nature of the ruthless King Cold was revealed, she could take solace in knowing that she could raise her children to be more than he was. Even in that, she had failed. Cooler was cunning and merciless and Freeza was paranoid and sadistic. Her daughter never had the chance to be anything at all.

The Queen had once adored the King. Then she had feared him, a deep terror jolting her heart at the very thought of his touch or a mere glance in her direction. For a while she felt nothing at all, almost s if she left her body when in his presence. Since that day, however, when he had allowed her a small sliver of hope before reducing her newly born baby daughter to ash in front of her eyes, the Queen felt nothing but pure hatred. The memory of that day crinkled her brow and tightened the corners of her mouth. The small creature within her womb stirred at this, feeding off of her emotions, growing stronger.

'One day, little one, you will be more powerful than your father can possibly imagine. You'll be the ruler this galaxy deserves. You might even save your brothers from his corruption, if it's not too late.'

The Queen's scowl turned to a smirk. Today was the day she would escape the King once and for all. She had been planning for this since the very moment she discovered she was once again with child. Luckily, King Cold was on the other side of the galaxy putting down a particularly troublesome rebellion. According to the rumours he had even had transform to his final restricted form. Who knows, maybe the fighters in this rebellion would be fearsome enough to put him down for good before he could transform. The Queen was jarred from her thoughts by the calls of one of her handmaids.

"Come, your Majesty," she whispered, "It's now or never."

Since most of Colds strongest forces were taking part in the battle with the rebellion, the palace and grounds were relatively unguarded and the space around the planet was mostly focused on keeping enemy ships out, so would most likely pay little attention to a small cargo frigate leaving the barricade. This was the best, and possibly only chance she had of leaving.

As she walked through the palace grounds to the underground hangar where her lifeline ship was kept, she was joined at various points by her team of handmaids. Having been the only ones who had truly witnessed the extent of King Cold's cruelty towards his Queen, she was sure that she could trust them. They were the only ones she really trusted on this planet any more.

When they finally arrived at the doors to the hangar, she took a deep breath before leading her loyal subjects- no, loyal friends, inside.

* * *

The take off had gone without issue, and as they had now left Arcosian space, the Queen allowed herself to breath a sigh of relief. She didn't have a chance to inhale before a massive shadow began creeping along the length of her ship. Raising her head, too scared to breath, she saw the source: a massive circular dreadnought – Prince Coolers in fact. Her heart sank, as her breathing had returned at a quickened pace. She knew that Cooler was murderously jealous of Freeza's superior strength, and she didn't doubt that he feared for the strength of the newest addition to his family, and wouldn't hesitate if given the chance to eliminate the threat before it could manifest. She began to wonder whether they would demand the ship board, before taking her back to be executed by the King personally, whether Cooler would kill her there and then with that 'death beam' technique he was so proud of, or whether they would simply blast her and her friends to ashes from the comfort of their ship.

As quickly as the shadow came, it passed. Whether they hadn't been detected, or whether Coolers pilots had simply chosen to ignore an insignificant Cargo ship, it didn't matter. They had made it. They'd actually made it. The Queen began to smile, until she felt a moistness around her feet. Had she actually wet herself in fear, in front of her maids?

"Your majesty," one of them began, "I think the baby is coming!"


End file.
